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Why it pays to be ‘Geckowise’ with your data

There are many ways to improve a campaign’s performance from eye catching creative design, clear calls to action and response driving messages but that all pales into insignificance if you don’t use your data correctly. And because data influences everything from the strategy, creative, tone of message as well as the proposition it’s vitally important to get it right.

But how do you know if you’re giving your direct marketing campaign the best possible chance? Firstly it pays to really get under the skin of your data and find out as much as you can about your customers. Running an initial health check will show you what state your data is in and what cleansing can be done to improve its value, whilst profiling your customers will provide useful insights about their demographic, geographic and lifestyle characteristics helping you to segment your campaigns and target your customers more effectively.

With over 500 key variables to choose from, a good profile report will provide you with a highly accurate snap shot of what your customer base looks like. If you’re looking to target prospects effectively it makes sense to start with people who have characteristics and interests similar to your current customer base – they’re much more likely to convert! As such your profile report will help you identify variables to include or exclude when you’re buying in lists for acquisition campaigns to optimise response.

Sometimes, it’s important to visualise your data and see exactly where your customers and prospects live in relation to your sites or your competitors. That’s why sophisticated catchment mapping analysis can provide an extra level of understanding. For example it can show you where you have strong potential to recruit, where to avoid cannibalising customers from another site and where to attack competitor battle ground areas. Clever catchment analysis can help you make informed strategic and tactical marketing decisions quickly.

Following your campaign, you’ll want to understand what’s worked and where improvements can be made so you continue to generate profit. Campaign analysis dashboards can help bring all your response data together in one easily accessible portal and show you and all key stakeholders exactly what’s happened, your best and worst performing areas as well as that all important return on investment.

Data shouldn’t be feared or avoided. It should be embraced and interrogated in order to give campaigns every chance of success. By understanding your customers, selecting your right fit prospects and visualising your data, analysing your results will quickly become a very enjoyable part of your marketing strategy.

If you’d like to make wise marketing decisions, it certainly pays to be ‘Geckowise’ with your data. Get in touch today and we’ll help you get there.